alain’s dance blog

For updates from our team of riders on our 7 week trip down to Mexico, check out our daily blog and weekly video log at Global Agents for Change.

Today I’m feeling… Nervous. Excited. Apprehensive. Inspired. And many many more emotions right now. We are officially leaving tomorrow 9am to start our 3000 km ride from Vancouver, British Columbia to Tijuana, Mexico.

During the past three days of orientation, we played team-bonding and trust-building games, learned from physiotherapists at Moveo on how to take care of our bodies when biking, got a lesson on bike maintenance and repair from Bikes on the Drive, learned about road safety and regulations from the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, and joined Critical Mass in downtown Vancouver for an empowering ride with hundreds of cyclists - shutting off traffic in the downtown core to promote cycling as an alternative and sustainable replacement to car transportation. These past few days have opened my eyes on biking and I’ve learnt so much! I feel much more prepared for the start of our journey.

Here’s a picture of us at Critical Mass starting from the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Emma Banks with Hugs not Drugs

A picture of us riding on the Vancouver seaside

And here’s a video of the Global Agents for Change during Critical Mass.

After a great weekend of dancing in Seattle at Camp Jitterbug, I’m finally in Vancouver for the beginning of my ride. I met some really great people on the last day who gave me a ride up: Eric and Tim Shaw and Edina Hechanova (Eric and Edina won the Flyweight fast division at Lindy Bout this year). Here’s a picture we took arriving late in Vancouver, the camera on top of Eric’s car.

And here are Eric and Edina, along with Ben and Sheri Yau (behind the camera) while I try the Snatch-Cake from Mike Faltesek and Casey Schneider’s airsteps class at Camp Jitterbug. Both Ben and Eric were so much better than me at this!

I got to spend some time with Eric, Edina and Lucy Faulkner in Vancouver and it was nice to chat about our different dance scenes and about Lindy Hop in general (what else?). I got to hear their perspective of the Pacific Northwest scene.

I also helped out as an extra lead in Eric and Lucy’s classes at Jungle Swing. They’ve got a Lindy U like we do at Cat’s Corner. I wonder who came up with the name first… In any case, they are fantastic teachers, and I hope we’ll see them on the East coast sometime soon.

I’ve plotted our Ride to Break the Cycle trip on Google Maps. We start May 31st in Vancouver and end the trip in Tijuana on July 12.

View Larger Map

Thank you readers for following my dance blog this past year. I’ve decided to put blogging on hold for the next month as I prepare for my 7 week bike trip from Vancouver to Mexico. I’ll be dancing all along the West Coast on my way down south (starting with Camp Jitterbug in Seattle), so I’ll definitely write about my journey along the way.

It’s not too late to donate (click here to go to my donation page), and you can also come support me by dancing on Friday April 25 at Cat’s Corner. The Cool Canaries will be playing for my fundraiser.

New Dance Blog

As Carl mentioned yesterday, we are launching a collaborative dance blog project this summer. There will be more dancer interviews, more jazz music discussions and more reporting on Lindy Hop events in the near future.

For now, here are the most popular posts of the last year:

The Lindy Hop dance

• Top reasons why you will fall in love with Lindy Hop
• How to prepare for a swing dance competition
• The different types of dance shoe soles: pictures

Spotlight on dancers

• Dancer Interviews: Adam Boehmer
• Dancer Interviews: Stephanie McKernan and Lindy Bout
• Handpainted t-shirts of Lindy Hop dancers: Max Pitruzzella
• Handpainted t-shirts of Lindy Hop dancers: Mike Faltesek

About swingin’ jazz music

• How to start your collection of swinging jazz music
• Song playlist at the Montreal Lindy Hop Exchange 2007
• Song playlist for the Battle of the Swing DJs 2007
• My Top 5 Count Basie songs for swing dancing
• My Top 5 Sidney Bechet songs for swing dancing
• My Top 5 Duke Ellington songs for swing dancing
• My Top 5 Fats Waller songs for swing dancing

Wicked dance videos

• You can dance no matter what your size!
• We’re dancing Lindy Hop in the official Gmail video by Google
• The family of swing dances explained in video part 1
• Best slow motion dancing in a Lindy Hop video clip
• Watch our Lindy Hop performance at ULHS 2007
• SwingOutDayton team choreography to OK GO
• Watch Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollmann at the US Open 2007
• Watch the SuperJews dancing at Swingin New England
• Bands for dancers today: Loose Marbles
• Watch the Harlem Hotshots from Sweden on TV
• Watch a tribute to the Harlem Congaroos in Seattle
• So You Think You Can Dance: The Lindy Hop

The Jam Cellar “April Fool!” video:

The Jam Cellar is a world-reknowned weekly swing dance party held in a posh, turn of the century mansion in Northwest Washington, DC on Tuesday nights. They have an awesome video blog that you all should subscribe to.